HASTINGS, Minn. - After he lost an envelope with $1,100 in cash on the way home from the bank, a Hastings man figured his money was gone forever.Advertisement

A week later, the money was returned, a least most of it.

The Hastings Police Department received an anonymous letter Wednesday from the person who found the envelope. The person returned $900 of the $1,100 and in the letter the person wrote that they "really needed" the $200 and that they were sorry they had to take some of the money.

Officers were attempting to get in touch with the man who reported he had lost the cash as week earlier so that he can come and recover it, a least most of it.

ga362: Never and I mean NEVER turn in found cash to the police. You might as well give it to charity. The rightful owner will probably never see the cash.And Never return a lost wallet to the owner. Mail it to them unless you want to be accused of taking any cash that happened to be in there. Or any cash the owner alledges to be in there.

/experience speaking

Keeping found cash is a crime; you can go to jail for it. The proper procedure is to turn it over to the police and, if it is not claimed within a specified amount of time, it is returned to the finder. If you return a found wallet to the owner , you cannot be accused of taking any cash missing, since the owner cannot prove that their was any cash in the wallet with it was lost. I've done this twice; once the owner told me I should have kept the hundred bucks in it as a reward. The other just thanked me profusely and offered me a reward.

It never pays to be a dick to other people.

Somehow I don't consider mailing a persons wallet and cash to them anonymously is being a "dick".

Changing your tune now? You never said anything like this in your post. You said: "And Never return a lost wallet to the owner." Returning anonymously is not dickish; not returning it al all is.

Re-read the part I bolded, which you even quoted. Both sentences not just the first one.

ga362:Never and I mean NEVER turn in found cash to the police. You might as well give it to charity. The rightful owner will probably never see the cash.And Never return a lost wallet to the owner. Mail it to them unless you want to be accused of taking any cash that happened to be in there. Or any cash the owner alledges to be in there.

/experience speaking

I've returned two lost wallets---one had cash in it, the second one had no cash at all in it when I found it. The guy (American) whose wallet was full of cash? No reward from him. The lady (Canadian) whose wallet was emptied of cash before I found it? She gave me a $50 American Express gift card. In neither case was I accused of taking money.